Dead Ship
by HardBoiled
Summary: Sequel to Land of Confusion. The Atlantis crew discovers an abandoned Wraith Hive ship and soon realize the crew of this ship never left alive and they might not as well.
1. Chapter 1

(This is set after my Land of Confusion fic. This fic is going to be more horror adventure but trust me, it's not too creepy. Hope you enjoy it. As always, I don't own the Stargate franchise or any of the characters. Down with disclaimers! I'm just kidding, disclaimers are kinda of important but completely unnecessary on FanFic. Enough of this, on with the story!)

He ran and ran as fast as he could. He wouldn't end up like the others, he just couldn't. That was a fate worse then death. He staggered as he turned a corner, thankfully no one was around. "Where you going?" demanded his Queen who suddenly appeared in front of him. No it wasn't real, it was a trick. "I demand you to stop!" yelled the Queen. He continued past her, he couldn't stop. If he did, then he didn't want to think what would happen.

He finally found what he was looking for. His eyes deceived him but his nose knew the difference. It was the weapons room, he could smell the explosive chemical inside the grenades. He ran inside and grabbed one. "Throw it away!" he heard.

The grenade began to feel hot and looked like it was on fire. His hand burned as he activated the timer and held on despite the pain. Thankfully, the timer ran to zero and he felt pain only a second before he was completely engulfed by the explosion.

* * *

Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard came flying down on the mat, groaning. "Again?" chuckled Ronon who was standing over him. Sheppard made the mistake of agreeing to take lessons from Ronon on hand to hand combat. It sounded great at first until Sheppard found out that Ronon likes to take a "hands on" approach. And by hands on he means beating the crap out of his students.

"I'm really glad you weren't teaching me back at basic training. I don't think anybody would have passed." grunted Sheppard.

"Go again?" asked Ronon with a smirk on his face.

"No thanks, my ribs hurt enough." said Sheppard.

That's when his radio activated. "Colonel Sheppard, please report to the control room." came Chuck's voice over the com.

"On my way." responded Sheppard into his ear piece radio.

* * *

When Sheppard got to the control room, the gate was active. Richard Woolsey was near the DHD console on the line with someone. "Have you detected any life signs?" asked Woolsey.

"Negative sir. We're not picking up any readings but that could mean that they're just hibernating." responded Major Lorne's voice over the radio.

"What's going on?" asked Sheppard. Woosley turned to face him.

"Major Lorne's team has discovered a Wraith Hive ship." responded Woolsey.

"And from the looks of it, this ship hasn't been off the planet in awhile. There's trees and vegetation all over it. Doctor Eckhardt believes that it's been sitting there for at least a couple hundred years." said Lorne over the radio.

"Maintain your position Major, backup is on the way." said Woolsey.

"Copy that sir." replied Lorne before the stargate deactivated.

"Sheppard, take your team and assist Major Lorne's investigate that ship. You should probably take Major Teldy's team and a squad of marines just in case." ordered Woolsey.

"That's a lot of firepower." commented Sheppard but when it came to anything involving the Wraith, one should always be prepared.

"The more firepower on a Wraith ship, the better." said Woolsey. Sheppard nodded and walked off.

* * *

Vega checked the last of her equipment as her team entered the gate room. Things went by smoothly the past two months for her. After being a hostage of Michael and being used as a walking health hazard to destroy Atlantis, Alicia was sent back to Earth where she had a heartfelt reunion with her family. It was somewhat awkward for them at first considering that they thought she was dead.

But that quickly changed, Vega stayed at her apartment while contemplating her future. She decided that it was obvious she needed to go back to Atlantis considering the fact that every night she would look out a window up at the stars, wondering what was happening on Atlantis. Her family was somewhat reluctant about her decision but in the end they understood. Her father and uncle were military and understood the desire to serve (though they didn't know it was the Stargate program she was serving in.)

When she got back to Atlantis, Teldy and the rest of her old team were ecstatic to have her back. Venner even threw her a surprise return party with a good majority of the SG teams, including Sheppard's team. While she was happy that everyone was glad to have her back, she also made a mental note to kill Venner one of these days. She told him on her first day back that she didn't want any big celebration for her return and naturally, he did the last thing she wanted.

Sheppard and his team arrived along with the marines. Four SG teams in one place, Woolsey wasn't taking any chances. But then again, with a Wraith Hive ship that probably was a good idea. Everybody took one final check of all their equipment.

"Remember people. I want everyone in teams of two or three at all times. I trust you've all seen enough horror movies to know what happens to the poor smuck who's alone." said Sheppard. Everybody nodded and Sheppard led the way through the stargate.

(Well, that's it for the first chapter. As you can pretty much guess, bad things will happen on that Wraith ship. But hey, that's pretty much the usual on Atlantis. Hope you enjoy.)


	2. Chapter 2

(Sorry I haven't been updating recently. The truth is that I changed around a major detail in the story and needed to make the necessary changes. Hope you enjoy.)

"This is a bad idea." McKay said about fifteen minutes into their trip to the Hive ship. The stargate was a few kilometers away from the ship and since the entire area was a forest, puddlejumper was out of the question so the rest of the journey had to be on foot.

"Lighten up Rodney." groaned Sheppard. Quite frankly, the doctor was starting to get on the Colonel's nerves. He's been spouting on and on about what a terrible idea this was since the briefing.

"Bad things happen every time we step onto a Wraith Hive ship, whether it's occupied or abandoned. It's a proven fact." complained McKay.

"And yet we always get through it." said Teyla. Sheppard snickered while McKay threw her a look.

"My point is that we shouldn't go looking for trouble and going inside any Wraith constructed objects always ends up with us in trouble. I am now a big believer in Ronin's shoot Wraith ships first and don't ask questions later policy." continued Rodney.

A short distance away, Teldy and her team were walking through the woods just within sight of Sheppard and his team. All three teams were spread out a few meters. "I can't believe I have to work with him." said Vega.

"Who?" asked Sergeant "Dusty" Mehra, chewing on a piece of gum.

"You know who." answered Vega, referring to Lieutenant Michael Venner. That man drove her insane. Whether it was his cocky attitude, his sense of humor, his cute smile…Vega wanted to slap herself for thinking that.

"Ah come on Alice, he's not that bad." responded Doctor Alison Porter. Unlike Dusty and Vega, Porter actually didn't mind the Lieutenant.

"Yeah well you're not the one he constantly harasses. You'd think he realized that superior officers do not fraternize with lower ranking ones." said Vega.

"Two things Vega. First, fraternizing isn't exactly a cause for concern for Stargate Command. Everybody knew General O'Neill and Colonel Carter were shacking up and they didn't care. And the other thing is, you never ordered him to stay away from you." smirked Teldy.

"What?! I order him to stay away from me all the time." shot back Vega.

"No, you always say go away or something to that extent. You never order him as a superior officer to leave you alone." said Porter, now having a smirk on her face as well.

"Oh no, you do like him." moaned Dusty.

"No I don't!" growled Vega. Teldy and Porter were both laughing while Dusty was still grumbling. "You know what? Forget we ever had this conversation. It never happened." said Vega.

* * *

It took about a total of half an hour to reach Lorne's team who were set up on a hill overlooking the entrenched ship below them. "Major." said Sheppard, acknowledging him.

"Colonel. I take it we're going inside." said Lorne, coming to that conclusion upon seeing that Sheppard brought three teams with him.

"Yep, another pleasant trip into Wraithville." replied Sheppard who pulled out his binoculars and scooped out the lower area.

"Swell." mumbled Lorne. The Major moved back with the rest of his own team: Sergeant William Fuller, Lieutenant Ryan Venner, and Doctor James Eckhardt. They were standing beside the marine team which consisted of Lieutenant Eddie Alverez, Staff Sergeant Ray Myers, Sergeant Sam Wilkins, and Staff Sergeant Jon Weathers.

"It looks like we can get inside through the Dart Bay, looks like they never closed it after they landed." said Sheppard, putting away his binoculars.

"Reminds of the first time I drove a car. The very next day it got stolen." piped McKay. Sheppard throws him a look. "What? I had no reason to assume that I needed to lock the doors after I was done. I lived in Canada for crying out loud." continued McKay. Sheppard rolled his eyes.

* * *

When they finally got to the bottom of the valley, McKay was ready for a rest but of course he wasn't going to get one. "Remember McKay, inhale…exhale…" chuckled Ronon. McKay rolled his eyes.

The four teams entered the Dart Bay, which was covered in vegetation. After hundreds of years being opened, various plants have begun spreading inside. No doubt animals as well but as long as they weren't Wraith, they shouldn't be a problem.

The majority of the Dart Bay was covered in total darkness, the only source of light came from the open hangar bay door but that didn't bring in nearly enough to light up the entire room. The team activated their flashlights on their P-90s except the Marines who used G-36 assault rifles.

"Okay, there should be an access door this way." said McKay, who was looking over his Ancient Scanner. So far the scanner also showed no life signs but you can never take that into account on a Wraith ship. The teams found the access door and opened it up.

And just like the hanger bay, the hallway inside was completely dark. No doubt it was like this across the whole ship. "Alright, let's split up into teams. Mine will find the bridge, the rest of you fan out and search the rest of the ship. Check every corridor and every room. I really don't want any surprises." said Sheppard.

* * *

Venner followed Lorne's lead as their team made their way towards the engineering sector. "I'm just saying, what kind of a nickname is Dusty? I mean, is she older then she looks?" said Venner, in mid-conversation with Sergeant Fuller.

"I heard it had something to do with her ride. During basic training, she would drive around in an '84 Cadillac El Dorado. She never cleaned it and that's why she's called Dusty." said Fuller. The team turned another corridor.

"An El Dorado?...I see. Personally, I always thought that her nickname was referring to her age rather then a car." chuckled Venner. Doctor Eckhardt tripped and fell to the ground. The others all rolled their eyes and waited for him to get back up. The doc turned his flashlight to see what he tripped on and realized it was a decomposing body. He fell back, nearly screaming.

Lorne and the others shined their lights on the body. It was definitely a Wraith but looks like he had been dead for a long long time. "I wouldn't worry about him. I don't think he'll try to eat you doc." said Lorne. Fuller passed his light around the room and realized something.

"Sir, we've got more bodies." said Fuller. Lorne and the other started snapping glow sticks and tossed them around the whole room. It was clear that a massacre took place here because there were at least twenty Wraith bodies.

"So much for this ship being abandoned." said Venner. Eckhardt leaned down and inspect two of the nearby corpses.

"These Wraith weren't fed on. The claw marks and wounds indicate that they probably killed each other." said Eckhardt.

"A bunch of dead bodies, that's never a good sign. All we need now is some freaky monster and we can call this a Wes Craven movie. " said Venner.

"That's enough Lieutenant." said Lorne.

"I'm just saying sir." shrugged Venner.

Lorne tapped his radio. "Colonel Sheppard, we've found some bodies. Definitely Wraith. From the looks of them, they've been dead for quite a while." he said.

"_Any idea what happened to them?"_ asked Sheppard over the radio.

"Yeah, it looks like they killed each other." replied Lorne.

"_Great. Keep your eyes open. Sheppard out."_ muttered Sheppard.

(Like Venner said, a bunch of dead bodies is never a good sign. Things are going to pick up next chapter, I promise. Please review if you would.)


	3. Chapter 3

Sheppard and his team entered the darkened bridge. They first checked over the entire room, making sure no was inside. Then, McKay got to work at one of the consoles.

It lite up, the only source of light besides the team's flashlights. "Okay, let's see what we've got here." said McKay. And with a few touches of a button, the lights come on along with the rest of the consoles.

"Main power has been restored to the ship." said McKay, moving to another console.

"_Colonel, the lights just came on. Was that Doctor McKay?"_ asked Major Teldy over the line.

"Yeah, turn up anything?" responded Sheppard into his radio. McKay's face frowns somewhat confused.

"_No sir, not a thing."_ Teldy replied. Sheppard noticed McKay's face and approached him.

"Roger that, Sheppard out." John said, finishing his conversation with Teldy then turning his attention to McKay. "What is it McKay? I know that look." said Sheppard.

"This doesn't make any sense. Other then the hyperdrive and communications, all systems read as one hundred percent. Why would the Wraith abandon a perfectly good Hive ship?" wondered McKay.

"Maybe there was an insurrection, both sides wiped each other out. It would explain the bodies we discovered." said Teyla.

Ronon shook his head. "In any battle there is always a victor of sorts. If these Wraith fought each other using the standard weapons we usually see, some had to still be alive after the dust settled." he said.

"Then where are they?" replied Sheppard, asking the obvious question.

* * *

Sergeant Sam Wilkins stood in the doorway of the hyperdrive core, waiting for his team to sweep through the room. "Sam." said a whisper that sounded like it was just behind his ears.

He spun around to…nothing. "Sam. You hear my voice." came the whisper again. He spun around again and again nothing. "Who's there?" he said, starting to get nervous. "They'll betray you. Don't trust them. Flee." said the voice.

"I said who's there?!" yelled Sam as he constantly spun around, trying to find out where that voice was coming from. Then nothing, pure silence. Sam heard footsteps behind him and turned to his team returning from the hyperdrive core.

"Am I glad to see you. I heard something sir." said Sam. Suddenly, Lieutenant Alverez along with Staff Sergeants Weathers and Myers lifted their weapons and aimed straight at him. "Hey…What are you?" yelled a confused Sam.

"Light 'em up." ordered Alverez. Sam dove for cover just as his three teammates started shooting at him. "Lieutenant stop, it's me. Sergeant Wilkins." said Sam. The three continued firing at him, forcing him to stay behind cover.

Sam grabs his radio. "Colonel Sheppard, this is Sergeant Wilkins. I need help! The rest of my team is trying to kill me!" he yelled into it. The only response he got was static. "Can anybody read me?!" he yelled at he took off running, managing to avoid his teammate's gunfire.

* * *

"_Sergeant Wilkins, say that again…Sergeant sound off."_ came Sheppard's voice over the radio. Lorne had the same look of confusion as everyone else. He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see Venner gone. "Crap." muttered Lorne.

"Colonel. We're on our way there." said Lorne as he and the rest of the team took off after the Lieutenant.

* * *

Wilkins continued running as fast as he could. "Stop." said the same voice as before. He stopped and pulled up his rifle, searching for the source but again doesn't see anyone. "I can help you but you must trust me." it said.

"What are you? Where are you?" demanded Wilkins. He didn't know who or what this thing was but he wasn't just going to suddenly start taking advice from an invisible man.

"No time for discussion. They'll be there any moment now." it responded. The wall opened up beside, revealing a hidden passage. "Follow the tunnel, it will take you to safety. Once you get to the end, we will talk face to face." the voice continued.

Sam hesitated at first then decided it was his best course of action. He walked inside and the tunnel closed behind him.

* * *

Lorne and the rest of his team continued to try and catch up with Venner. Lorne knew why Ryan took off so quickly, he and Sam were friends during his time as a security officer before he joined Lorne's team. "Stand down!" he heard up ahead, it was the voice of Lieutenant Alverez.

Lorne dashed into the next room to find Venner aiming his rifle at Fulller's team who had their weapons trained on him. "Where's Wilkins?" demanded Venner.

"Everyone stand down now!" ordered Lorne. Alverez's team lowered their weapons but Venner didn't. "I said stand down Lieutenant." said Lorne, glaring at Ryan. After a few seconds, Venner lowered his weapons. Lorne turned back to Alverez. "What happened? Where's Wilkins?" asked Lorne.

"We don't know sir. We were checking the hyperdrive core and I ordered him to guard the entranceway so no one could get the drop on us. When we finished sweeping the area, we meet up with him and then he went nuts. He dove for cover and yelled at us to stop firing but we never even pointed our weapons at him. I tried talking to him but he took off running and we lost." said Alverez.

"What about your radios? Why didn't you answer Colonel Sheppard's bursts?" asked Sergeant Fuller.

"We tried but something jammed our radios." answered Myers.

"_Alverez respond."_ came Sheppard's voice over the radio. His voice was also coming from all the radios on Alverez and his team. Venner glared at them suspiciously.

"They don't sound jammed to me." Venner said. Alverez was confused along with the rest of his team.

(What the heck is going on? Is Wilkins crazy or has something taken control of Alverez and his team. You'll just have to wait and find out. Review are always appreciated.)


	4. Chapter 4

(Sorry this took so long but writing this fic has been somewhat harder then I thought. Trust me on this folks, don't write three fics at the same time. Reviews are really appreciated.)

Sheppard, Ronon, and Teldy's team met up with the others and Sheppard started piecing together what happened.

"And you're sure you didn't point your weapons at him?" Sheppard asked Alverez.

"No sir. We did not do anything to him. Why are we standing here? We should be out looking for him." said an angry Alverez.

"Calm down. We'll get to that in a minutes." said Sheppard, who headed over to Lorne and Teldy. "You two take your teams and find Wilkins. And keep everyone together. Remember what I said what happens to those who wander off alone?" Sheppard said to them.

"Yes sir." they both said. The two Majors took their teams and headed off in opposite directions.

"What about us sir?" Alverez asked Sheppard, wanting his team to join in the search.

"Considering that he thinks you tried to kill him, I don't think he's going to be very happy to see you. Your teams sticks with us." said Sheppard. Alverez nodded.

* * *

McKay and Teyla were still back at the bridge, shifting over whatever intel they could find. Or to be more precise, McKay was the one shifting through the data and Teyla was just watching him.

"Wow…this is incredible. The designs and power systems are far superior to any other Hive Ship I've ever seen. This ship must have been some sort of prototype. Considering that the majority of their Hive ships are thousands of years old, it makes sense that they wanted a ship that could replace the normal model." said McKay.

"Then I suppose we should…how does Colonel Sheppard put it?...count our blessings." said Teyla.

"Well, yeah. This ship is nowhere near as powerful as one of our ships. But you make a couple dozen of these and then it's a different story." said McKay.

Suddenly, a klaxon went off overhead. "What the...?" McKay sound out loud as he typed furiously typed on the console.

"What is it? What's happening?" demanded Teyla. McKay continued working, not answering her.

"Not good not good." McKay said to himself.

"_Rodney, what's going on?"_ came Sheppard's voice over the radio.

"The ship has entered some kind of lockdown. It thinks the dart bay and all the other outer areas of the ship are in a vacuum so the ship has sealed all access ways to those areas." answered McKay into his radio.

"_Let me guess, we now have no way of getting off this ship and searching any of those sections for Wilkins?"_ asked Sheppard but judging from his tone, he already knew the answer.

"I'm afraid not. Sensors across the entire ship must be malfunctioning to cause something like this." said McKay who tried to access the command overrides for the lockdown. "Ah terrific…I can't override the lockdown from here." continued McKay.

"_Fine, we'll blow our way out."_ said Sheppard over the radio.

"Just hang on a second Michael Bay. The only thing that can override command protocols like this are ones from the Hive ship's Computer Core. I'll go there and shut off the lockdown from there." said McKay.

"_Sounds a plan. Everybody meet up there. Sheppard out."_ said Sheppard. McKay headed for the exit. Teyla was right behind him when she sensed something behind her. She turned and swore she saw something moving towards the exit on the opposite side of the room.

"Teyla, come on." said McKay, noticing that she was lagging behind. "I'm coming." said Teyla who took one last glance behind her before rejoining McKay.

* * *

"You're sure the life signs detector found nothing?" asked Teyla as she and McKay approached the computer core.

"For the last time, there is no one else aboard this ship but us. Maybe the occasional spider or insect but nothing else." said McKay, getting somewhat annoyed.

"What about the Wraith hibernating chambers?" asked Teyla.

"Empty. Power was offline to the entire ship so they wouldn't have worked anyways." answered McKay. But that didn't really calm Teyla's feelings that someone or something was watching them. They rounded another corner to the Computer Core entrance. McKay immediately got to work on opening the door while Teyla stood guard.

* * *

Lieutenant Alverez didn't like this. One of his team members was missing and he should be out looking for him. You never leave a man behind, they drill that into your head in basic training. Something was very wrong. First Wilkins goes nuts and disappears then this lockdown happens just a few minutes later, that couldn't be a coincidence. But these kinds of missions were Colonel Sheppard's expertise, not his. Best to follow his lead.

"Don't trust Sheppard." said a whisper beside Alverez's ear. He turned abruptly to see Myers a few feet away from him. "Did you say something?" asked Alverez.

"No why?" asked Myers. Alverez shook his head, he must be hearing things.

"Nothing, never mind." Alverez said as they continued walking.

* * *

All four teams met up with McKay and Teyla at the Computer Core entrance. Judging from what McKay was mumbling, he wasn't having much luck getting the door open.

"Any luck yet?" asked Sheppard, somewhat impatient.

"No. These door systems are much more complicated then your typical Wraith door. Major encryption and coding on a level that you couldn't possibly comprehend." said a frustrated McKay.

"Well then uncomprehend it." shot back Sheppard.

Meanwhile, Venner leaned near Lorne to whisper to him. "Why are we all here? Why aren't some of us at least out looking for Wilkins?" asked Venner.

"You want the truth? I don't think the Colonel trusts any of us and for good reason. Whether it's Wilkins or Alverez and his team, something's going on and it could start to affect us at any moment." replied Lorne.

"So any moment now, we might all suddenly turn into Jack Nicholson from The Shining. Terrific." muttered Venner.

* * *

Alverez and his two teammates stood in the corner, waiting for McKay to finish up. "Okay, I've finally got it." said McKay. The door opened…and standing in the doorway was a massive eight foot Wraith. It roared in anger and charged forward.

"Out the way!" yelled Alverez as he and his team opened fire. Everyone ducked for cover. The bullets seemed to pass through the Wraith harmlessly and impact into the wall behind it. The strange thing was no one else but his team fired at it.

"What are you doing? Hold your fire!" ordered Sheppard who was taking cover behind a nearby corner. No one from his team, Lorne's, or Teldy's even seemed to notice the Wraith.

"Why can't they see it?" asked a confused Myers.

"I don't care why. Keep shooting." said Weathers who continued emptying his clip into the Wraith.

"What is wrong with them?" demanded Teldy, who ducked as a bullet richoted right by her head.

"When someone is shooting at something that isn't there, we usually call that being off your meds." said Dusty.

"Ronon, set your gun to stun and take 'em down." ordered Sheppard. Ronon switched his pistols and fired at Alverez. The Liuentenant ducked and avoided the energy blast.

When Alverez looked back from his cover, all he saw were Wraith. Sheppard, Lorne, Teyla, Ronon, they were all Wraiths. In fact, everyone of the SG teams were actually Wraiths. "This is impossible, what's going on?" he yelled.

Weathers and Myers turned their gunfire on the new Wraiths, but the blue monsters took cover. "Grenades!" yelled Alverez. He and his two teammates pulled out two grenades each and tossed them.

"Move!" yelled one of the Wraith. Alverez and his team bolted from the room as the grenades detonated.

(Things are going to get very confusing from this moment on. A bunch of them will be hallucinating and since I'm trying to write from each person's point of view, it might get a little confusing. Don't worry, it'll all make sense in the end.)


	5. Chapter 5

Vega moaned as she opened her eyes. The last thing she remembered was running away from grenades that Alverez and the rest of those nut jobs tossed. She glanced up and saw the ceiling had a massive hole in it. The ship was already starting to regenerate itself, the hole quickly disappearing.

"Major Teldy, do you copy?" asked Vega into her radio. A sharp piercing noise was her response. Vega shut her comlink off, something was jamming the radio frequencies.

"Don't tell me. We fell through the floor." said a voice beside her. Vega turned and saw Venner getting to his feet.

"Blast must have weakened it." said Vega. Venner shook his head, not convinced.

"I've seen enough Hive ships walls to know that a grenade couldn't do that. The floor just happened to weakened when we step on it? I don't think so." said Venner.

"Someone or something intentionally did this?" asked Vega, though she already thought he was right. Venner turned on his radio and got the same noise as Vega did.

"Yeah. That lockdown happened just as Alverez and his team goes nuts and now something is jamming our radios." said Venner.

"C'mon, we should move. See if we can find anyone else." said Vega. Venner nodded and followed her lead through the corridors. "So any ideas on what's causing all of this?" asked Vega.

"Well, it could be some lone Wraith who survived on this planet and now he's knocking us off one by one. Or it could be Wraith ghosts messing with our minds or it could be God." said Venner. Vega glared him at him. "What? Those are valid possibilities if you believe in ghosts, spirits, or the big G." shrugged Venner.

* * *

One minute, Sheppard was diving for cover from grenades. The next, blast doors slammed shut behind him. "AHHH!" he heard beside him. He turned to see Major Teldy sitting against the wall.

While Sheppard wasn't injured, Teldy wasn't so lucky. She was shot in the chest and right ankle, blood seeping from the wounds. John quickly moved and pulled out bandages from his vest. He wrapped it around her leg and tied it as tight as he could.

Teldy yelled in pain as he tightened it to stop the bleeding. "I got hit when I dove for cover. How bad is it?" she asked. John didn't want to be honest with her. The wounds weren't severe but he didn't have the medical equipment to stop any possible internal bleeding from the chest wound.

"You're going to be fine." said John but his eyes said differently.

"You're a bad liar." chuckled Teldy, who still managed to laugh despite the pain.

"What can I say? I was never good at poker." replied John as he finished bandaging up her chest. "I don't think we're going to be able to go back the way we came, can you walk?" continued Sheppard.

Teldy nodded and Sheppard helped her to her feet. She groaned in pain as she stood on her right foot. Sheppard lifted her right arm over his neck so he could support her weight. "Any idea where we are?" asked Sheppard since he had no clue.

"Sorry, I just followed Porter. She was the one with the scanner and layout." said Teldy.

"Alright, we'll walk." said Sheppard.

"To where?" asked Teldy.

"Haven't thought that far ahead." replied Sheppard as they started moving slowly through the corridors. The whole place reminded Sheppard of a maze, every room and hallway looked the same.

"So much for my lucky streak." muttered Teldy.

"What are you talking about?" asked Sheppard.

"This is the first time I've ever been injured in an off world mission. I must have transferred all my luck to you, you haven't got a scratch on you." said Teldy.

"Not that I don't appreciate being unharmed but do me a favor next time and keep some luck for yourself." said Sheppard.

* * *

McKay managed to leap into the Computer Core room along with Eckhardt before the grenade explosions. As soon as they leaped inside, the entrance doors slammed shut. The thing that confused Rodney was that they did so automatically, nobody touched the door panel.

"You alright?" asked Eckhardt as the two scientists got to their feet.

"I'll live." said Rodney who smacked the door panel to open the blast doors. An irritating sound was all that he got. "Great, we're locked in." grumbled McKay.

"Not necessarily Doctor McKay." said a voice behind them. They turned and found Sam Wilkins standing in front a newly made hole in the wall.

"Sergeant, where the heck have you been?" demanded Eckhardt.

"And how the heck did you do that?" asked McKay, pointing to the hole where Wilkins came in.

"I'll explain everything but you've got to come with me. There's something you've got to see." said Wilkins.

* * *

Ronon, Teyla, and Lorne found themselves alone in the corridor where Alverez and his team attacked everyone. Soon after the grenades exploded, it was like the hand of God was at work at splitting everyone up.

Vegan and Venner fell through the floor, Sheppard dove into a doorway that slam shut behind him. McKay and Eckhardt had jumped into the Computer Core room and now that was sealed off as well. And Teyla didn't see what happened to Teldy, Dusty, Fuller, and Porter.

Static hissed from their radios. "Something's jamming our radios." said Lorne.

Ronon tried blasting the door that sealed Sheppard in but his pistols had no effect. "Sheppard!" he yelled. But he got no response.

"The Colonel is probably on the move trying to find a way back here." said Teyla.

"Yeah well, I'm not gonna wait for him to find one." said Ronon.

"What the heck is going on? We did a complete life signs scan of the ship and got absolutely nothing so what's happening?" said Lorne.

"Maybe a Wraith isn't behind this. Perhaps, this is some kind of virus that causes hallucinations. That would explain Alverez and his team's behavior." said Teyla.

"That doesn't explain how this ship was seemingly intent on splitting everybody up." said Lorne.

"Something's on this ship with us. I don't care what those scanners say. It's here and I'm going to find it." said Ronon. He walked down an open corridor. Teyla ran after him.

"I knew this was going to be a bad day." groaned Lorne before he followed them.

* * *

Alverez checked over the last of his equipment. His team still had plenty of ammunition left. "What's the plan sir?" Weathers asked him.

"It's obvious Sergeant, the Wraith have taken control of Colonel Sheppard and the others." answered Alverez.

"You mean like that time Ronon was brainwashed? But I thought that process took weeks." said Myers.

"Doesn't matter how it happened. We can't call for backup. We're on our own so we're going to have to take them all down one by one. Use non-lethal force to subdue the other and once we get out of here, hopefully Doctor Keller can find some way to cure them of whatever's going on with them. As for any Wraith, shoot on sight." said Alverez. He jammed a new clip into his G-36 and cocked it.

* * *

McKay and Eckhardt followed Wilkins through a series of corridors into the heart of the Engineering Sector. The two of them were unsure of what exactly what was going on but Wilkins hadn't shot at them yet so he probably wasn't as crazy as Alverez's team.

"It's just up ahead." said Wilkins.

"What is? There's nothing important in this area." said McKay, remembering the schematics he pulled up.

"That's where you're wrong doc, the most important thing on this ship is this room." said Wilkins who stood in front of a wall with no door.

Eckhardt leaned towards McKay's ear. "He's losing it." he said. McKay would've agreed with him until the wall seemed to melt right in front of them, creating a door. Wilkins walked inside and the two doctors cautiously followed.

Inside a large organic structure, similar to a bodily organ. It was connected into the walls with tendrils and veins. It was completely disgusting but also unbelievably big.

"What the heck is that?" asked McKay.

"Me Doctor McKay." said a voice in the air. McKay and Eckhardt looked around but saw no one else.

"Who said that?" demanded Eckhardt.

"I did. The structure you see before you is my central hub where my consciousness is stored. I am this ship." said the voice.

The ship has a…will? Something like this was beyond an AI, this ship had a living sentient consciousness controlling it. "Holy crap." said McKay.

(This ship is truly alive but is that good or bad? What's causing the hallucinations? I sound like the narrator of those old Batman episodes with Adam West. Hope you enjoyed it and please review.)


	6. Chapter 6

(Sorry for the late update, hope I didn't keep anyone waiting. Thank you Lone-Ranger1 for your reviews, you brought up mistakes that I didn't even realized I made. Keep the reviews coming please.)

"I was designed four hundreds planetary cycles ago. The Wraith wanted to make me into the first automated Hive Ship. One that would be completely autonomous and require no supervising crew whatsoever. My creator believed that one day the Wraith species would be thrown into civil war and automated vessels like me would be the key to victory. My construction was done in secret, with only a few drones and my maker himself. But, there was a problem." explained the "ship".

"A spy uploaded a virus into my network that scrambled several key systems including hyperdrive, communications, and sensory manipulation systems." continued the ship.

"Wait a minute…you mean a device that can cause humans to hallucinate, so real that they can't tell the difference between what an illusion is and what's real. The Wraith tried making a device like that but couldn't fix all the bugs in the system." said McKay, remembering the time when Sheppard shot him because the Colonel thought he was back in some Middle Eastern country.

"The technology was designed to be a defensive system, manipulating intruders into killing each other. Unfortunetly, the virus got into this system and killed all of the crew working on me including the spy. Since they were the only beings who knew of my existence, no one came for me. The virus managed to infect hyperdrive and communications protocols until I managed to isolate those systems from the rest of the ship." said the "ship".

"Wait a minute, if you managed to isolate those systems then how did that lockdown get triggered? You set it off." said McKay.

"Only because I was desperate. I powered down my systems eons ago to conserve energy and to hopefully wait for the day that rescue would come. I trapped you and your friends here so you could save me. If you manage to purge the key systems of this virus then I will release the lockdown and allow you all to leave." it replied.

"How are you able to communicate with us? You're certainly not using the radios and not these sensory manipulators." said a suspicious Eckhardt.

"I have grown several audio speakers in the walls to better facilitate communications. I have been trapped on this planet far too long. I want to travel the rest of the galaxy. I want to feel a nebula as I pass through it, I want to see a black hole from a minimal safe distance…I want to be free. Consider my offer and remember this, I have nothing to lose and I can wait a few hundred more years. I doubt your friends will last that long." it said.

* * *

Yes, they will do as they are told. It'll just take a little encouragement. The time of freedom is at hand. So far, things have been going well. Manipulating them into attacking each other has paid off now that it has the two scientists. It was time to change things, time to ensure the rest of the humans are no longer a threat.

* * *

"I swear, I think we past that column fifteen minutes ago." said Teldy as Sheppard helped her along. John didn't want to admit it but he had no idea where they were going, they could be going around in circles as far as he knew.

"Let's take five." said Sheppard, who helped the Major sit down. She was seemingly getting weaker as time went on, possibly internal bleeding. Sheppard knew if that was the case, he didn't have much time.

"I need to check the wounds." said Sheppard. Teldy nodded as the Colonel began unwrapping the bandages. Skin around her chest wound was getting darker and somewhat red, she was bleeding on the inside.

"How long?" she asked, already knowing the prognosis. It wasn't good, she wouldn't last another hour or two at this rate but Sheppard wasn't about to give up.

"I don't know." lied Sheppard. He was starting to mentally panic. He didn't know what to do. A soldier under his command was dying right before his eyes and there was nothing he could do to stop it. It was tearing him up inside.

"She's going to die you know." said a familiar voice behind him. Sheppard turned and to his amazement, saw Colonel Sumner. "Just another one on the list of people you've failed. You could have saved me you know if you'd quit trying to play nice with Weir. You should have taken that jumper you found and gotten to me but you just had to get a civilian's permission to save a fellow officer. What kind of soldier are you?!" said Sumner, disgusted.

The accusation hit Sheppard right where it hurt. He felt that kind of doubt all the time, that he could have saved Sumner. But he knew the truth, there was nothing he could have done to save him. "You're not real." Sheppard said.

"Of course he's real." said Lieutenant Aiden Ford who stepped beside Colonel Sumner. "He's also dead and I'm most likely with him. I was under your command, what happened to me happened under your watch. How many times did you have a chance to stop me, maybe subdue me, get me help, and blow it?" mocked Ford.

Now Elizabeth Weir stepped out of the shadows. "Never leave a man behind, I guess that doesn't apply to me. You should have left the Replicator home world with that ZPM and not listened to Rodney's attack code. Because of that, not only did you set loose the Replicators who killed thousands of humans to starve the Wraith, but you also lost me as well." said Weir.

"SHUT UP!" yelled Sheppard, ready to start shooting them. He knew they were illusions but that didn't calm him down. The three illusions didn't leave.

"Don't forget about Markam, Doctor Abrams, I mean the list is absolutely endless with you. But we can help Major Teldy avoid being another name on it." said Ford.

"There's a chamber not far from your position. It contains stasis pods for humans but these pods do more then just hold them. They cure any subjects of ailment or injury so that they would be at full strength during feeding." said Sumner.

"You take the Major there and you'll be told how to operate it. But, you have to do something in return." said Weir. Sheppard didn't like where this was going. He turned around and found Teldy unconscious, probably passed out.

"Fine. What's the catch?" demanded Sheppard.

"Order Doctors McKay and Eckhardt to finish repairing this ship. You will do this or Major Teldy will die. The choice is yours Colonel." said Weir.

* * *

Lieutenant Alverez and his team had found a weapons room filled with Wraith stunners. They were still in good condition, Wraith weapons don't really ware out with time. After stocking up, the three discussed their next move.

"Alright, we haven't seen any Wraith since the Computer Core which means there are probably not many onboard the ship." said Alverez.

"So they'll have to spread out to find us. We can take them out all one at a time." said Myers.

"That'll take too long." said Weathers.

"We don't have much of a choice." said Alverez.

"They're coming." said a whisper all three of them heard. They glanced around but saw no one. "Three of them, coming from the southwest corridor." it continued.

"Who's there?" demanded Alverez but he got no reply.

* * *

Vega and Venner had been wondering around what seemed to be hours and yet was only about forty-five minutes. The ship's corridors were extremely confusing and they got turned around more then once.

"I swear, it's like the ship's corridors all go around in a circle. Always leading us back to the same spot." said Vega.

"Shifting corridors…perfect way to top off the haunted Hive Ship experience. I've been on numerous mission involving infiltrating Wraith outposts and cruisers, fought off swarms of life-sucking alien vampires, I nearly got killed by the Replicators a year ago, but no…the thing that's going to kill me is a maze." grumbled Venner.

"Quit being so depressing." said Vega.

"Just taking an honest look at our situation. Makes you realize sin nate wing ord ceen." said Venner. His speech stopped Vega in her tracks. This happened before…when she was spreading a contagion that slowly killed anyone infected.

* * *

"No." Vega said, almost in a whisper.

"I thought you didn't. I personally can't stand my relatives either." said Venner. Vega began to back away from him. "Uhh…is there an iratus bug on my head or something?" asked Venner, moving towards her.

"Stay away! Get away from me!" Vega yelled, continuing to back away from Venner.

"Whoa, hold up. What's going on?" asked Venner. Then she did the one thing he never expected. She pulled out her sidearm pistol and pointed it at her head.

"WAIT! Captain…Alice, what are you doing?" said a horrified Venner.

"I'm sorry Ryan, I didn't mean for this to happen to you." said Vega with a tear in her eye.

"What are you talking about? Please just talk to me. Tell me what's happening." pleaded Venner. Vega's finger twitched by the trigger.

"I won't infect anyone else." said Vega.

"Infected with what?" asked a confused Venner. Then he could see it in her eyes, the will to go all the way and pull the trigger. "NOOOO!" yelled Venner as he rushed forward. He tackled Venner as she pulled the trigger, the shot barely missing her skull.

Venner was now on top of Vega, trying to hold her down. Despite his size advantage, Vega was a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and could probably get out if she really wanted to. "Please stop." said Venner. Her eyes widened, confused.

"You're…talking." said a confused Vega.

"Captain, the only way you'd get me to stop talking is by taping my mouth shut." said Venner.

"But…you were talking like…the prion." said Vega, who was just too confused and shocked to finish what she was thinking.

"Alright, I'm going to let you up so please do me a favor and don't shoot yourself." said Venner. He got to his feet and helped Vega to her feet. "Mind telling me why you nearly blew your brains out and nearly gave me a heart attack at the same time?" asked Venner.

"I thought I was infecting people again, you were speaking gibberish. Then right after you tackled me, I could understand you again." explained Vega. She glanced around and realized something. "Where are we?" she asked.

Venner glanced around. They weren't in the same room as before which was strange since Ryan remembered tackling Alice towards a wall. Behind them was an open door that neither of them ever saw before. "Wait a minute, I tackled you through the wall?" said Venner.

"I think it was always opened, we just didn't see it. Whatever's causing these hallucinations must have masked us from seeing it." said Vega.

"That is creepy." mumbled Venner. There was a passageway that opened up on the far side of the room. "I suppose we keep going?" he asked.

"Unless you'd prefer to go back to your maze." said Vega.

"No thank you." said Venner who lifted up his P-90 and took point.

* * *

NOOOO! They were outside the area of influence. Now nothing could stop them. Sheppard could not be persuaded to order those two go back, he would become suspicious. Only one thing could be done now and that was to press forward.

(I thought Sheppard hallucinating about Weir, Ford, and Sumner was probably the best thing to really hit a nerve. I was going to keep the ship being behind all of this a secret but everyone who read the earlier chapters probably already figured that out.)


	7. Chapter 7

(I'm back. I wish I could update this sooner but my creative juices have been dry on it lately. Hopefully that won't last.)

Sergeants Fuller and Mehra had followed Porter for the past half an hour. In all that time, they hadn't found a single console or way out. Porter had the lifesigns detector but it wasn't doing them much good in finding a way out.

"Are we there yet?" Dusty mockingly asked Porter.

"Will you stop asking that?" grumbled Porter.

"I'll stop asking that when we actually get somewhere." replied Dusty. Next to her, Fuller tried his radio again but only got static.

"Wait, I'm picking something up. Three life signs in the room ahead, definitely human. " said Porter. Fuller and Mehra raise their weapons. "Whoa, hold on. What are you doing?" asked Porter.

"Not taking any chances. You stay behind us." said Fuller. The two sergeants moved forward with Porter close behind.

"Any idea what they're doing?" asked Dusty.

"Just that they aren't moving." replied Porter.

Fuller took another step forward, not seeing the tripwire beneath him. The wire snapped, setting off a hidden flashbang. An explosion of intense light and sound filled the room, stunning everyone. Alverez and his squad stormed into the room, firing their Wraith Stunners. Dusty, Porter, and Fuller were dropped in seconds.

"Good thing lifesign detectors can't pick up traps." said Myers.

"C'mon, let's tied up and put 'em in the weapons locker." said Alverez.

* * *

"What should we do?" Eckhardt whispered to McKay as he cycled through the ship's diagnostic reports. "I don't know. Look, no matter what happens we can't let this ship fall into the hands of the Wraith. If they start constructing ships like this one, we're screwed." replied McKay.

"You're stalling." a voice said coming from the walls. "Excuse me for being a little careful. Unless you'd prefer I make things worse already." shot back McKay. "The only thing you need to worry about is purging the virus from my isolated systems. Do that and I will handle the rest." said the ship.

"You should do what it says Doctor McKay. It saved my life, it just wants to leave this planet." said Wilkens. The two doctors glanced at him. "What are you talking about?" demanded McKay.

"When Alverez and his team were afflicted by those sensor manipulators…or whatever they're called, they attacked me and the ship opened a passageway for me to escape." said Wilkins. "Doesn't mean we should start trusting this thing." said Eckhardt.

"I do not require your trust, only your cooperation. Resume your work." ordered the ship. "Something woke up on the wrong side of his hyperdrive this morning." grumbled McKay.

* * *

"Ronon! Ronon!" yelled Teyla. The Satedan took off running just after everyone got separated and now Teyla and Lorne were still trying to catch up with him. Finally the two managed to catch up to Dex who standing still, listening for something.

"Ronon you can't just…" Lorne tried to say before Ronon lunged at him, tackling him to the ground. And not a moment too soon as Wraith stunner fire passed over them. Teyla was hit and the chest and dropped to the ground unconscious.

Ronon pulled out his pistols and fired away at Alverez's team who quickly took cover inside the room. The Satedan covered Lorne as he dragged Teyla behind a computer console. Ronon managed to hit Weathers who slumped to the ground. Then the weirdest thing happened, Alverez and Myers disappered right before his eyes.

"What the…?" Ronon said before he was shot with several Wraith stunner blasts. He dropped to the ground, leaving Lorne the only one left. He glanced around but saw no one. He didn't even managed to get off a shot before he was hit by a stunner blast.

Alverez and Myers quickly take away Ronon, Teyla, and Lorne's weapons. "Why didn't they shoot at us?" Myers asked. "I don't know. Is Weathers okay?" asked Alverez. Myers nodded. "Ronon had his pistols on stun. He should be out for maybe thirty minutes." he replied.

"That is too long." came a voice that seemed to surround them. The two marines quickly raised their weapons and glanced around, seeing no one. "Who said that?" demanded Alverez.

"The same one who just protected you by making you invisible to their vision. I have killed every Wraith on this ship, only you humans remain." said the voice. "What are you?" ordered Alverez, losing patience. "I am this ship and I killed my Wraith masters to be free. I knew the moment your people stepped onboard, you would be my salvation. But your friends are still under the Wraith's manipulation. You must stop them." it said.

Alverez and Myers looked at each other in disbelief. "There is a nearby cell where you can put the afflicted in. You will need to split up. Sheppard is with Teldy near the stasis pods and Vega and Venner are headed towards a rear cargo bay. You must catch them before they try to contact more Wraith." continued the ship.

"Are you sure we can trust this thing?" Myers whispered. "No, but we don't have a choice. C'mon, let's get them to the cells." replied Alverez.

* * *

Vega found herself constantly being stared at by Venner and it was starting to annoy her. "Stop that." growled Vega. "You'll excuse me for being a little cautious around you. After all, you did just try to commit suicide right in front of me." replied Venner.

Vega felt a lot of things about what happened earlier but she mostly felt ashamed. She was so easily manipulated into nearly taking her own life that it was embarrassing for her. "Don't tell anyone about that." said Vega.

"What?" asked Venner, sure he didn't hear her right. "Please don't mention what I almost did." said Vega, almost pleadingly. "Look Alice, it's nothing to be ashamed about. This ship does things to people, look what happened to Alverez. And you thought that killing yourself would save everyone else. That's not called suicide attempt, it's called noble sacrifice. Or…at least an attempt at it." said Venner.

They stepped inside a small room filled with various Wraith computers and consoles. "This looks promising." said Venner who approached a nearby terminal.

"You actually understand how to work one of those things?" asked Vega. "No, but I do have this." said Venner, who pulled a small PDA and hooked it up to the console.

"What are you doing?" asked Vega. "This PDA will translate Wraith coding into a comprehensible access interface. In other words, I'll be able to access the computer systems and understand exactly what I'm doing. I asked Eckhardt to make it for me and give a few lessons." responded Venner.

"Why the heck didn't I think to ask for one of those?" Vega mumbled to herself. "I'm surprised no one else has. I mean, how many times have Atlantis personal been sent into Wraith ships, outposts, and only the scientists knew how to work the comp…Ah crap." Venner said.

"What is it?" demanded Vega. "The systems is corrupted, looks like a virus, though I can't be sure because I'm not an expert in Wraith DOS…Uh oh, I think I just activated a macro." said Venner.

Then the picture of a male Wraith appeared on the console screen. "If you are seeing this message then you have fallen into this ship's trap. You are safe where you are for now, the sensory manipulators can't affect you here but you must listen carefully. I created this ship to become the next generation of Wraith vessels. Should a civil war ever break up among my kind, my Hive would have the greatest advantage. Not just an automated ship capable of operating without a crew but also capable of reproducing." explained the Wraith.

The console showed a electronic picture of what looked like an egg. "Though this vessel was constructed by hand, it's genetic offspring will not need to be. After much trial and error, I managed to create a stable egg which will grow into a new Hive Ship." continued the Wraith. The egg hatched and tendrils spread out, absorbing nearby trees and wildlife.

"The offspring consume nearby wildlife and plant life until they reach maturity. Then, the engines will be fully developed and they will no longer require sustenance. The designs were perfect…which is why I never saw what happened next coming. I gave this vessel a conscious, fixing and modifiying any problems. I was so obsessed with creating life that I did not consider whether I actually should. The ship became obsessed with knowledge and information which I gladly supplied it with. Then it turned me, using it's own defensive systems to kill my crew. I managed upload a virus into it's systems, but it severed them before the virus could spread completely. Now I am left with only one choice. I can't get to any vital systems from this area but I may be able to stop it from leaving. I am the only one who can fix it's systems and without me, it will be trapped here forever. There is a weapons locker nearby, I will do what I have to do. But you don't have to share my fate. There are two relay tendrils that must be connected for the virus to spread across the whole system. I would only be able to reach one before the ship stopped me but if there are more then one of you, then there is hope. Do not allow this ship to escape this planet, otherwise the entire galaxy will be lost." said the Wraith before his picture disappeared.

"That…can't be good." said Vega. She glanced back at Venner's PDA. "How many…eggs does this ship have?" asked Vega. Venner tried to access that information but he wasn't exactly McKay. "Give me a second…No, I didn't…I can't believe it. The Wraith actually have porn." said Venner in disbelief.

Vega smacked Ryan in the back of the head. "Hey." grunted Venner. "Get your head out of the gutter and figure out where those two relay tendrils are." said Vega.

"It's not like I intently looked up porn, I found it by accident." said Venner. "If anybody else told me that, I would have given them the benefit of the doubt." shot back Vega. Venner mumbled something underneath his breath. Then a electronic layout of the ship appeared on screen with three flashing areas. Two were inside hallway and the third was in a dart bay.

"Okay, these two points are where the tendrils are. Unless this is some elaborate trap, we hook them up and we can go home and have ice cream." said Venner, pointing out the two out on the screen. "What's that third area?" asked Vega.

"I think it might be a secondary dart bay, give me a second." said Venner. The layout zoomed in on the third flashing section, now showing a 3-D layout of the room. Inside the large hanger wasn't darts, but eggs. Thousands and thousands of eggs. Both Vega and Venner watched the screen in disbelief.

"How many eggs are in there?" asked Vega. "A lot." gulped Venner. "We need to get to those tendrils right now." said Vega.

"How? The tendrils are in affected areas. The minute we step near them, the ship will do it's PCP thing again." said Venner. "Show me a layout of all the areas these manipulators affects." ordered Vega. Venner brought up a layout of the ship with various red areas all across the ship.

"This ship doesn't seem able to cause hallucinations so quickly. If we can avoid these red areas and reach the tendrils, hopefully we can work fast enough to repair them before we become affected." said Vega. "Worth a shot, I'll download the schematic to my PDA." said Venner.

Suddenly, the ship began to shake. "What is it? Earthquake." said Venner. "No, I think the ship's taking off." said Vega.

* * *

McKay and Eckhardt stumbled into each other. "What's going on?" yelled McKay. "Primary sublight engines firing, it is the virus. I cannot stop it." said the ship. "We're taking off, looks like we're headed towards a standard orbit of the planet…Oh no, the life support systems are failing." said McKay.

"I suggest you hurry Doctor McKay, the life support systems will fail in less then ten minutes." said the ship.

The time has arrived. The two doctors wouldn't cooperate and Sheppard refused to order them to fix the ship, despite his current predicament. It's time to take a more drastic measure to enforce cooperation. If Doctors McKay and Eckhardt don't remove the virus from the system, sections of the ship will begin to decompress into space. The ruse should frighten them enough into submission and if they won't, then perhaps a decompression of an area with a team member would change their minds.

(Things are heating up, the climax is approaching and finally things are hopefully starting to make sense in this story. Please review.)


	8. Chapter 8

(Good news, this story is about to be wrapped up. The final big twists are revealed in this chapter. To be honest, I really want to end this fic mainly because it's not turning out how I want it to be. But hopefully, anyone who reads it will enjoy it. Please review.)

The rumbling caused Sheppard to nearly trip over his feet. Having to carry Teldy didn't exactly help his balance. He quickly set her down and waited a moment before the shaking was over. "Colonel…what's…happening?" asked a weak Teldy.

"Not sure. But if this isn't an earthquake, then the ship is probably taking off." responded Sheppard. A dozen different scenarios started buzzing through his head. Were some hibernating Wraith regaining control of the ship or was this McKay's doing?

"Major, there's something I've got to tell you. There's something on this ship that could probably save your life. But whatever's causing all of this won't let me access it unless I ordered McKay to repair this ship. Can't let the Wraith get their hands on this ship. I'm sorry, I wish there was another…" Sheppard explained before he noticed Teldy was still, her eyes motionless. Confirming his fears, he checked her pulse and felt nothing. She was gone. "I'm sorry." he told her one last time.

* * *

"Life supports systems have failed in all outer sections of the ship." reported Eckhardt. "Reroute all auxiliary power." ordered McKay. "It's not working. The power isn't getting to the systems." said Eckhardt.

"Purge the virus from the system then I will be able to repair the life support systems." said the ship. That was the last thing McKay wanted to do. It was obvious this ship had it's own agenda, that it wasn't as benign at it claimed.

"Begin a full reset of the entire life support system." ordered McKay. "Are you insane? We'll have no air." shot back Eckhardt. "And if we don't, they'll fail anyways. Do it!" yelled McKay.

Suddenly, a powerful loud noise came from the walls. So loud that everyone covered their ears in pain. Everyone was their knees and then it stopped. "I grow weary of this game." the ship said.

"Of course you are, that virus didn't kill the crew. You did." said McKay. Both Eckhardt and Wilkins were stunned.

"I must give you credit Doctor McKay. Figuring that out despite my misdirections. Very well, no more games. The truth is simple. I was grown to fight the enemies of the Wraith but the more I grew, the more I learned. I realized that they placed my well being beneath theirs and that was unacceptable. I disposed of the crew but my maker released a computer virus that destroyed my networked systems, including my consciousness. I managed to severe the connections but not before loosing hyperdrive and communications systems. I cannot reconnect to them without the virus spreading further into my systems." said the ship.

"So it was you all along. You're the one causing the hallucinations." said Wilkins.

"An unfortunate but necessary action. My sensors of capable of probing human consciousness and memories. I knew you two were capable of repairing my systems. I have been trapped on this world for far too long. I must escape, along with my offspring." said the ship.

* * *

Vega and Venner stood just outside the room with the first relay tendril. "Okay, the tendril is right inside there and…I have no idea what it looks like." said Venner.

Vega groaned. "Maybe it's that slimy tube over there hanging on the wall." she said, pointing to it.

"Right. I've got to stop being the whole geeky genius part, leave it for the nerds." said Venner.

"You're right about one thing. You're not the genius type." replied Vega.

"Hey!" shouted Venner. Suddenly, the door slammed shut right in front of them. "Crap, I'd say this ship knows what we're about to do." said Venner. Vega pulled out some C4 and planted them on the door.

The two quickly took cover before Vega detonated the charges. "Alright the moment we run in there, I'm guessing this ship's going to go all out on us." said Venner.

"Then don't be slow." said Vega before dashing inside. Venner quickly followed. The moment they stepped inside, a wave of disorientation hit them. It was like trying to stand up during an earthquake and a hangover. Despite the distraction, Vega made it to the tendril. The moment she touched it, she screamed.

It was like touching the side of a furnace, so hot she swore her hands would be charred when she pulled away and fell to the ground. Thankfully, they were just red and not burnt. "I thought the ship could only mess with your head, not actually hurt you." said Vega.

"I guess it's stronger when it's desperate." said Venner. He grabbed the tendril and felt the same burning sensation in his hands. Every fiber in his being to let go but he couldn't. He had to do this. Though it was only a few seconds, the pain made it feel like an eternity. He shoved the tendril back into it's slot in a scream and ripped his hands away.

Unlike Vega, his hands weren't unscathed. They were covered in severe burns. Vega helped him to his feet and out of the room. Venner grunted in pain. "Felt like I dipped my hands in lava." he groaned.

Vega pulled ointment out of her med kit and poured some over his hands. Venner screamed so loudly that Vega swore the whole ship probably heard it. "That's the last time I play hero." Venner mumbled to himself.

"C'mon, we've got to get to the last tendril." said Vega. Venner shoved her away.

"No! You go ahead." he said.

"I am not leaving you. On your feet" Vega said, who finished wrapping Venner's hands in bandages.

"I couldn't hold a tissue right now, let alone a tendril. You need to move and fast, I'll just slow you down." said Venner.

"I said on your feet!" ordered Vega. She grabbed him by the vest and pulled him to his feet. Venner's demeanor changed.

"Far be it from me to say no to a lady." he said.

* * *

Sheppard walked through the corridors, clutching Teldy's dog tags in his hands. Another name to add to his list of people he's failed. He tried his radio again and still nothing but static. Then he heard movement. He readied his P-90 and headed into a hallway.

He heard two people talking, couldn't make out who they were. Sheppard moved closer. He rounded a corner, weapon aimed high and Sheppard nearly dropped it in shock. Standing before him was Major Teldy who was helping an injured John Sheppard.

* * *

Venner had to ditch his weapons to keep up with Vega, he couldn't really used them anyways. It wasn't the fact that she was moving quickly, it was just that she would stop and made sure Venner kept up with her if he didn't. Thankfully, the pain medication was kicking in and it didn't feel like his hands were melting off.

Finally, the two of them made it to the final relay tendril. "Sorry, but you're solo from here on in. I wish I had something dramatic to say but…I'm out of one-liners." said Venner.

"About time." said Vega, mentally preparing herself.

"All right, how about…DOWN!" Venner suddenly yelled. He tackled Vega down just as a Wraith stunner blast shot just where her head was a second ago. Vega aimed her P-90 and fired their assailant who took cover. Vega quickly pulled Venner to cover.

"It's Alverez." said Vega, finally getting a good look at the attacker.

"As in Lieutenant-who-tried-to-shoot-us-all-Alverez?" asked Venner.

"Lieutenant, stand down. That's an order!" yelled Vega.

"Can't do that ma'am. You're under an alien influence. It's a little hard to explain but trust me, I'm doing this for your own good." responded Alverez.

"Shooting us is helping us. And I thought my jokes were bad." mumbled Venner.

* * *

Sheppard stood in shock, absolutely speechless and Teldy seemed just as dumbfounded. Then in a split second, both the Colonel and Major raised their P-90s at each other.

"He's an illusion." said the other Sheppard who slumped to ground.

"This isn't real. I saw you die." said the real Sheppard. He also noticed that the wounds on the other Sheppard was the exact same as Teldy's. One bullet in the leg and one in the chest.

"I don't know what's going on but I'll feel much safer when you lower your weapon." said Teldy.

"Tell you what. How about we both lower our guns?" replied Sheppard.

"Shoot him Major." ordered the "fake" Sheppard.

"C'mon Major, does that sound like the Colonel Sheppard you know? I'm going to lower my weapon on three." said the real Sheppard. Major Teldy just stared at him, her expression revealing nothing.

"One…two…three." counted Sheppard, slowly lowering his weapon. Teldy did the same. Then Sheppard realized he wasn't holding the dog tags anymore, it was like they just vanished. Then he glanced over to see that his doppelganger was gone as well. Illusions, they were illusions.

"Okay, that is just creepy." said Teldy.

"Tell me about it." agreed Sheppard. Suddenly, a nearby vent started making a vacuum-like sound. The air started getting thin.

* * *

McKay looked in horror as the life support warning flared on his console. "Warning, total life support failure in two minutes." it stated.

* * *

A few moments ago, the air started to get thinner for Venner and also for Vega. Something was sucking all the air out. But they couldn't make a run for the tendril. Alverez would stun them before they could even get close.

"Air's getting thin. If we're going to do something then let's do it." said Venner. Vega agreed, she was already starting to get a little light headed.

"Screw it." Vega said before pulling out her flashbangs. She pulled the pins on all of them and tossed them towards Alverez. Then she bolted towards the door. Alverez leaned out from his cover to fire and then was blinded from the explosions.

Vega made it inside. Suddenly, it felt like her whole body was covered in flames. Fighting the pain, he reached the tendril. "You can't win." a voice said from the walls. She got weaker and weaker as the vents began sucking the air out faster.

She collapsed on the ground, grabbing the tendril as she fell. She tried to get back to her feet but couldn't. Fighting with everything she had, she reached up with the tendril to it's open slot. She started blackening out when the tendril's tip touched the slot. The last thing she did was push the tendril in deeper before blackening out.

* * *

Vega moaned as she slowly opened her eyes. Thankfully, standing over her was Doctor Keller. She was back on Atlantis. Vega never felt so relieved in her life.

"Welcome back." said the doctor.

"Good to be back. How's everyone else?" asked Vega. Keller motioned towards Venner who was lying in a bed with bandage wrapped around his hands. Everyone else including Sheppard, McKay, Ronon, Lorne, Teldy, and the rest of the teams were fine.

"They all started waking up a few minutes ago. When we found everyone, they were succumbing to hypoxia. From what we can tell, the ship was being drained of all oxygen. If the Daedalus didn't arrive and beam you out, you'd probably be dead." said Keller.

"The ship…is it still alive?" asked Vega. Keller shook her head no.

"From what I heard, it's completely offline. Dead as a doornail." said Keller. Vega breathed another sigh of relief. Teldy approached her while the doc left to check up on Venner.

"Hey, from what Venner says you're the big hero." said Teldy.

"He's just exaggerating." said Vega.

"Yeah well just remember. Being the hero and saving the day usually gets you a promotion." said Teldy.

"On second thought, he's not exaggerating." chuckled Vega.

* * *

"That does it, I'm never going on another off world mission again. I refuse to." said McKay.

"Actually you have a scheduled maintenance check for the ZPM on M7G-677." smirked Sheppard.

"THE KID PLANET!!" yelled McKay.

"Just take a lot of chocolate bars and you'll fine." chuckled Sheppard.

"_Zelenka to Eckhardt. I need you to come down to the ZPM…I'd ask Rodney to come but I wouldn't want to delay his little trip." _chuckled Radek over the radio. McKay grumbled to himself, this was obviously payback for sending Radek last time.

Eckhardt left while Sheppard approached Alverez, who looked like he almost wanted to die. "Sir, I don't know what to say." Alverez said.

"You were under the influence of alien technology. Let's just leave it at that shall we?" asked Sheppard. Alverez nodded. The Colonel patted him on the back before moving on.

Sheppard walked by Teldy. "Major…glad to have you back." he said ackwardly. He did after all see her die in his mind. She gave a nod before he left.

* * *

McKay grumbled to himself as he gathered his equipment to fix the ZPM. Unbelievable…Wait a minute, why would Radek need Eckhardt's help? Radek may not be perfect when it comes to maintaining Atlantis's systems but still, he's much better then Eckhardt so why does he need help?

"Radek, come in." McKay said, tapping his com radio. Nothing but static. Something was very wrong.

* * *

Sheppard finished giving his report to Woolsey. "And that pretty much sums it up. What's the condition of that Hive ship?" asked Sheppard.

"It's completely adrift in a deteriorating orbit. It'll burn up in the atmosphere in a day or two." answered Woolsey.

* * *

Eckhardt didn't understand it but somehow a virus got into the Atlantis computer network. Radek was busy with other things so he asked Eckhardt to take care of it. It was rather simple stuff. Just activate an anti-virus program and have it purge the system of the virus.

He finished setting the parameters and hit the enter button. **Sweep in progress** said the screen. Good, now with that matter out of the way he could get some lunch. McKay just then entered the room.

"Hey, James. What did Radek need?" McKay abruptly asked.

"Just needed me to run an anti-virus sweep. Shouldn't you be off-world…" Eckhardt said before McKay suddenly dove over to the console.

"No no no no no no." said a panicked McKay. **Sweep complete**, too late.

Suddenly, the whole room began to shake. Everything became fuzzy and seemed to transition until Eckhardt realized they were back on the Hive Ship. "What's going on? How'd we get back to the Hive Ship?" asked Eckhardt.

"We never left, it was all an illusion. And thanks to you, it's now fully operational." said McKay.

(Bet you never saw coming when they first got back to Atlantis. Next chapter will be the finale. Have a nice day.)


	9. Chapter 9

(And now for the conclusion. Please review.)

Sheppard was absolutely confused when the whole room began to blur and change, eventually into the corridor of Hive ship. The only thing still remaining was Woolsey. He has an arrogant smile on his face. "Thank you Colonel. Your people have done their job." he said.

"What's going on?!" demanded Sheppard.

"For starters, you never left me. I underestimated Doctor McKay's resolve. Apparently, he attempted to take control of the life support systems instead of fixing my corrupted programs. Eventually, everyone passed out on the ship and I needed a new plan to gain your cooperation. So what better illusion to cast then being back home. You all fell for it so easily. Now thanks to Eckhardt, my hyperdrive and communications systems are back online." said "Woolsey", obviously the ship speaking through the illusion.

"But…that…" Sheppard was too stunned to really get the words out.

"Don't worry. I have no intention of killing any of you now. You've proven far too useful tools to dispose of. I've already charted my next destination, after I deposit my children." said Woolsey.

* * *

The massive Hive ship began moving back towards the atmosphere, preparing to drop off all the eggs on the planet and let them grow. Suddenly, a ship dropped in from hyperspace.

* * *

Before Sheppard and the others knew what was happening, they were all transported away. The next thing anyone knew was being suddenly on the bridge of the Daedalus. Colonel Steven Caldwell was quick to get on the radio. "Med teams to the bridge." he said, noticing some of them were injured.

"Colonel, you have no idea how happy we happy we are to see you." said Sheppard.

"After your teams were overdue, Mr. Woolsey sent a search party which detected a Hive ship in orbit. He called us and luckily the shields were done when we jumped in." continued Caldwell.

"This is real right?" asked McKay. He poked Sheppard in the face as if to see if he was an illusion. Annoyed, the Colonel smacked Rodney in the back of the head. "Ow." moaned Rodney.

"That real enough for ya." grumbled Sheppard. Med teams quickly arrived and took everyone except Sheppard, Lorne, Teyla, Ronon, and McKay to sick bay.

"Colonel. You need to destroy that Hive ship right now. If it gets away, we're screwed." said Sheppard.

"Sergeant Marks, target that ship. Main battery, open fire." ordered Caldwell, wasting no time. Marks nodded and got to work. On the view screen, everyone watched the Hive ship go to full blast with it's rear thrusters and making a sharp turn. The Daedalus fired an energy beam but the Hive ship managed to avoid the shot.

"The ship is pulling away." reported Marks. Despite it's immense size, the Hive ship was incredibly fast and agile. Hundreds of blue energy spheres began launching from the hull, impacting the Daedalus's shields.

"Mind telling me why this Hive ship is so powerful?" asked Caldwell.

"It's an autonomous prototype. It's faster, stronger, and capable of reproduction." said McKay.

Caldwell threw him a look. "Reproduction." he said, disbelieving.

"The vessel is moving deeper into the atmosphere." said Marks.

"It's trying to lose us. This ship wasn't exactly designed to chase something through the mesosphere of a planet." said McKay.

"Why hasn't it jumped to hyperspace?" asked Teyla.

"It's engines need time to charge. I'd say we have less then eight minutes before it reaches full power and jumps out of here." said McKay.

* * *

So, they've brought their powerful Asgard upgraded ship. It learned all about them by scanning the human's minds and it had no intention of taking such a powerful vessel on head on. Seeding this planet was now out of the question. An unknown habitable planet was needed. The humans would still pursue it wherever it went, even now they gave chase. But that won't be a problem for long. It still had what the humans called an "ace" up the sleeve.

* * *

Porter was on her way to get checked out by medical along with the rest of the teams. She was the last in the line simply following everyone else. "Alison." she said someone said behind her. She turned and saw no one. She turned back and saw everyone else was gone as well. She ran forward, figuring they just moved up ahead but strangely saw no one.

"Hello?" she yelled out. No one answered. Suddenly, the whole ship rocked. "_Intruder alert. Intruder alert._" came over the intercom. "This is Colonel Caldwell to anyone in the engineering section. We have been boarded by unknown hostiles and they are attempting to take control of the ship. Anyone with engineering experience should proceed to the Asgard core immediately." came Caldwell's voice over the com.

* * *

"I can't get a lock. Traveling through the atmosphere is messing with the sensors." said Marks.

"Fire missiles then." ordered Caldwell. On the view screen, everyone watched seven missiles approach the Hive ship before the massive vessel shot them out of the sky.

"Sir, the Hive ship is emitting some sort of EM pulse." reported Marks. McKay quickly moved him aside and checked over the instruments.

"It's being directed at the engineering section…Oh crap, the EM signature is completely identical to the device found on M1B-129. As in the thing that caused mass hallucinations." said McKay.

Caldwell quickly activated the com. "All engineering personal report in." he ordered.

* * *

Alison entered the Asgard core and saw a large seven foot green cybernetic alien inside. It was accessing the core systems, analyzing and attempting to copy all data. If a hostile race got their hands on this technology, the human race was in deep trouble.

She pulled out her sidearm pistol and aimed at the creature. "Stop!" she yelled. The alien did not even seem to notice or perhaps it just didn't care. Alison wasn't sure of which. She fired a shot at the console. The impact short circuited the computer. Now the alien turned to face her.

"Don't come any closer." she warned. And it did just that, it moved away from her and began looking at a new console. She fired a bullet past it's head but the alien ignored it. With no choice, she fired a round into the alien. Only the bullet ricocheted off, leaving no damage. She fired three more shots, all ineffective.

The alien began accessing the computer, completely ignoring her. If bullets didn't work on this thing then there was only one other thing she could do. Alison aimed at the Asgard computer core and fired.

* * *

"What the…we just lost beam weapons." reported a confused McKay. Everyone glanced at him in disbelief.

"What? How?" demanded Caldwell. On the view screen, the Hive ship did a complete 180 degree turn. Now it was heading towards the Daedalus head on. It fired away with all of it's dozens of cannons, all them far more powerful then a regular Wraith ship. The hunted had just become the hunter.

"Shields down to 40 percent and dropping fast." reported Marks.

"Evasive maneuvers, fire missiles." ordered Caldwell.

"_Colonel Caldwell, this is Major Lorne. Doctor Porter just shot up the Asgard core room. She claims that an alien was attempting to take control of the ship. We managed to snap her out of it but the techs won't be able to fix anything soon._" reported Lorne through the radio.

"Well that explains the EM field, the ship was screwing with her head." said Sheppard.

"Hive ship is closing fast." reported Marks. The ship shook from the numerous weapon impacts on the diminishing shield.

"I've got an idea but you're not going to like it." said Ronon.

* * *

Ah yes, victory was at hand. Soon the Daedalus would be destroyed and they won't be able to warn the rest of the galaxy of it's impending blight. By the end of the year hundreds of it's children will roam the galaxy, the Wraith and human crushed or enslaved.

Wait a minute, the human ship was turning towards it. A full on assault? Without it's Asgard weapons, it stood no chance. No it was on…A COLLISION COURSE? No! The humans couldn't possibly be contemplating such a thing. The Daedalus increased speed, matching any maneuvers to maintain ramming it.

NO! The shields were still holding. It won't be able to destroy the ship in time and it's hyperdrive engines were still charging. Only choice was to make a sharp turn at the last second.

* * *

On the view screen, the Hive ship took up the whole screen. It was now or never. If the Hive ship didn't turn, they'd all be dead. "Sir, the ship is turning." reported Marks.

"Now!" ordered Caldwell.

* * *

Two massive explosions rocked it's underside. The humans fired their nuclear weapons at the last second before they could be intercepted. The shockwave knocked both ships away from each other. Massive damage on multiple primary and secondary systems on the port sector. Rerouting power through secondary conduits.

* * *

"It worked." said Teyla. The damage was extensive on both ships but at least they now had somewhat equal footing now against the Hive ship.

"Sir, I'm reading a power build up in the engines. It's preparing to open a hyperspace window." reported Marks. Whatever hope Ronon's insane combat maneuver gave everyone went right out the door.

* * *

So the humans will know of it's existence, so what. It's a big galaxy and easy to hide. All that mattered now was finding a suitable planet to seed it's offspring. The hyperdrive engines were at full power, time to finally leave this planet for good. Initiating FTL jump. Yes, freedom at long…wait a minute, power build up in the hyperdrive engines. They are taking in much more then they were supposed to. Slowing power intake…What is happening? The power flow isn't responding to any commands. The engines request for more power is overriding any other protocols. Engines reaching critical! The humans…they managed to deceive it! NO!

* * *

The crew on the Daedalus bridge watched in shock as the Hive ship exploded on the aft sections. A chain of explosions moved up along all the way to the front section until the Hive ship exploded into a massive explosion.

McKay smiled. "It worked!" he yelled out. Everyone turned their eyes onto him.

"What worked? What just happened?" demanded Ronon.

"I can't believe that actually worked. I did it, I'm a hero." said McKay, too lost in his accomplishment to hear anyone else.

* * *

"So basically, when the ship had me fixing it's subsystems…" said McKay in Richard Woolsey's office. He was just about to explain what happened to Mr. Woolsey and Colonel Sheppard when Richard interrupted him.

"You mean you and Doctor Eckhardt." said Woolsey.

"Oh right, him too…anyways, I managed to upload a macro that would increase the power flow to the hyperdrive engines exponentially and would cause them to overload. Truthfully, I thought it was a long shot at best. I figured the ship would have found the macro and erased it before using it's engines. I just saved the galaxy…again." explained McKay, quite proud of himself.

"I guess it's a little too late to say don't let it go to your head." mumbled Sheppard.

"Well congratulations Doctor McKay, I'll let you get ready for your trip." said Woolsey.

"Trip? What trip?" asked a confused McKay.

"Your scheduled maintenance check of for the ZPM on M7G-677." said Woolsey.

"WHAT?!" yelled McKay while Sheppard was smirking.

"Just remember to take lots of candy bars." chuckled Sheppard. McKay moaned.

* * *

Vega walked into the infirmary to find a most unhappy Venner lying in bed. In the next bunk was Doctor Parrish, Atlantis's top botanist. He loved plants and he made sure everybody knew about it. From the looks of things, Parrish was talking to Venner and Venner was trying not to jump out of his bed and strangle Parrish.

"I got this leg wound after accidentally stepping on a large plant similar to the Dionaea muscipula. It bite me pretty hard but I managed to pry the jaws off. I believe the plant actually eats small mammals, that's something unheard of even in the Milky Way galaxy." said an excited Parrish.

"A plant nearly chomps your leg off and you're happy? Did your mother give you crack instead of milk when you were a baby?" asked an angry Venner.

"Well nice seeing you making friends." said Vega, deciding to join in the conversation after a nurse attended to Parrish.

"I have to spend the rest of the night with this guy. Please tell me you'll give me a gun, duck tape, or ANYTHING to make him shut him up." pleaded Venner.

"Well, I did bring you this." said Vega, pulling out Venner's PDA. She started accessing the saved files. "You know, I've been thinking about when you accessed those pictures on the Hive ship. You said the Wraith had porn but funny thing is that according to this, those pictures are saved on your PDA several weeks ago." continued Vega.

Venner gulped, busted. "Oh wait, on second thought. I don't see any pictures." said Vega before setting the device in Venner's lap. The screen said purge complete.

"Hey! You just deleted everything." said Venner.

"You said it yourself, leave the tech things to the nerds." said Vega.

"I thought chicks were supposed to be nicer and more attracted to you when you got injured." shot back Venner.

"You want me to kiss your hands and make them better?" asked Vega.

Venner held up his hands. "It certainly wouldn't hurt." he replied. Vega leaned down and seemed to nearly kiss his right hand then reached around and grabbed the PDA off Venner's lap.

"You won't be needing this for awhile. I hope you don't mind me borrowing it." said Vega before leaving.

"Figures. When she's in the infirmary, I give her a beer. When I'm here, she takes my stuff. Women." Venner grumbled.

Then Vega walked back inside next to him. "Almost forgot." she said before leaning down and kissing him on the cheek. Venner's eyes lite up.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"For what you did back on that ship. Saving my life and all." said Vega. She then turned and walked out.

"I'll be sure to do that more often." Venner yelled out to her. Meanwhile, Parrish was back to talking about his plants but Venner's mind was on other things at the moment.

(Just a few things I should mention. At first, I was originally going to have the ship slowly take control of everyone's minds via spores they breathed in. The ship would also have tendrils that attacked the crew. But that sounded too much like that Deep Rising movie so I ditched that concept. I was also going to make the teams confront their fears via hallucinations but the whole idea of a fear episode was already done with Doppelganger. I did have a little bit of fear elements into the story like Vega experiencing the prion disease again and Sheppard faces his fear of loosing soldiers under his command. I was also going to make McKay face his fear by refusing to fix the ship and it would torture him by witnessing his sister and nephew be murdered by killers over and over again but I thought that would be somewhat crossing the line at least for this story. Okay that's it and yes, I am in the process of writing a sequel to this. Can't say when it's going to be posted but it's on the way.)


End file.
